Rabat: After shedding 80,000 jobs the previous year, Morocco’s economy generated 282,000 new positions between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025.

According to Agence Marocaine De Presse, this job growth came from urban areas, which saw the creation of 285,000 positions, while rural areas lost 3,000 jobs. By employment type, 319,000 paid jobs were created nationwide-299,000 in urban areas and 21,000 in rural ones. Unpaid work, however, declined by 37,000 positions, with losses of 13,000 in urban areas and 24,000 in rural ones.

As for the activity rate, it rose by 0.3 points over the two quarters from 42.6% to 42.9%. This increase was driven by a 1.4% rise in the working-age population (15 and over) and a 2% growth in the labor force. The rate increased by 0.4 points in urban areas to reach 41.5%, and remained unchanged in rural areas at 45.6%, the HCP said in a report on the labor market for Q1 2025.

The HCP mentioned that the employment rate rose by 0.5 points to 37.2% at the national level (+0.8 points to 34.6% in urban areas and -0.2 points to 42.3% in rural areas). This rate also increased by 0.6 points to 60.1% among men and by 0.2 points to 14.8% among women.